“Lately, when two clerks were contending about
the carrying of holy water, the clerk appointed by
the parishioners against the command of the priest,
wrenched the book from the hands of the clerk who had
been appointed by the rector, and who had been ordered
to read the epistle by the priest, and hurled him
violently to the ground, drawing blood[36].”

A very unseemly disturbance truly! Two clerks
righting for the book in the midst of the sanctuary
during the Eucharistic service! Still their quarrel
teaches us something about the appointment and election
of clerks in the Middle Ages, and of the duty of the
parish clerk with regard to the reading of the epistle.

In 1411 the vicar of Elmstead was enjoined by Clifford,
Bishop of London, to find a clerk to help him at private
Masses on weekdays, and on holy days to read the epistle.

In the rules laid down for the guidance of clerks
at the various churches we find many references to
the duties of reading and singing. At Coventry
he is required to sing in the choir at the Mass, and
to sing Evensong on the south side of the choir; on
feast days the first clerk was ordered to be rector
chori on the south side, while his fellow performed
a like duty on the north side. On every Sunday
and holy day the latter had to read the epistle.
At Faversham the clerk was required to sing at every
Mass by note the Grail at the upper desk in the body
of the choir, and also the epistle, and to be diligent
to sing all the office of the Mass by note, and at
all other services. Very careful instructions
were laid down for the proper musical arrangements
in this church. The clerk was ordered “to
set the choir not after his own brest (= voice) but
as every man being a singer may sing conveniently his
part, and when plain song faileth one of the clerks
shall leave faburdon[37] and keep plain song unto
the time the choir be set again.” A fine
of 2 d. was levied on all clerks as well as priests
at St. Michael’s, Cornhill, who should be absent
from the church, and not take their places in the
choir in their surplices, singing there from the beginning
of Matins, Mass and Evensong unto the end of the services.
At St. Nicholas, Bristol, the clerk was ordered “to
sing in reading the epistle daily under pain of ii
d.”

[Footnote 37: Faburdon = faux-bourdon,
a simple kind of counterpoint to the church plain
song-, much used in England in the fifteenth century.
Grove’s Dictionary of Music.]

These various rules and regulations, drawn up with
consummate care, together with the occasional glimpses
of the mediaeval clerk and his duties, which old writers
afford, enable us to picture to ourselves what kind
of person he was, and to see him engaged in his manifold
occupations within the same walls which we know so
well. When the daylight is dying, musing within
the dim mysterious aisle, we can see him folding up
the vestments, bearing the books into their place of
safe keeping in the vestry, singing softly to himself: